


of crystal balls and mistaken identities

by stilljunhui (acyria)



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: M/M, lowkey soulmate au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-09
Updated: 2017-06-09
Packaged: 2018-11-12 02:04:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11151918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acyria/pseuds/stilljunhui
Summary: "His name is Joshua. Close enough?"alternatively,Jeonghan gets told his soulmate's name is Jisoo, and that he's meeting him that day. Instead, he meets a boy named Joshua.





	of crystal balls and mistaken identities

**Author's Note:**

> I think this is sort of soulmate!au but not really...? It depends how you look at it. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
> 
> Anyways! This is an idea that's been sitting in my dump list for so long now. As in, a few months after Seventeen's debut kind of long. I wasn't sure how to write it out then (and I'm still not completely sure now) but I miss writing for Jihan and the idea still seemed pretty good. Also, this is sort of an apology oneshot because I won't be able to update Winning (Against) Yoon Jeonghan this week due to technical difficulties (I may have lost the file during the craze I went through for Junhao Day), so have this oneshot instead! ｡◕ ‿ ◕｡

"I'm telling you, Seokmin!" Jeonghan exclaimed, a hint of worry and panic in his voice as he regarded his laughing friend, who was practically about to keel over from how much he was doing so. The people walking around them were beginning to give them strange looks, but he clearly didn’t mind. Jeonghan was too preoccupied with telling him off to notice, too. ”The crystal ball never lies. What that lady said must be true, I mean—"

"If it were true for Hansol and Seungkwan, why not you, right?" 

Jeonghan nodded furiously, eliciting only more laughs from his friend. He sighed in frustration; there was no helping it if the younger boy refused to believe. He can't force him or anything, but Jeonghan has always been a rather superstitious boy. Tales from his grandparents and parents stuck with him as he grew up. He believed all the myths and folklore and was always, always careful to do the right thing especially in areas where spirits could be involved— which was, well, everywhere. 

He never walked between couples, too, worried that he'll tangle the red string of fate in between them, if ever. 

Anything could be possible.

The crystal ball thing that mystical old ladies had though, that was definitely real, especially the ones over at Insadong. Jeonghan brought Hansol there only months before; he was told that he was going to fall in love and get together with someone who had the initials BSK. A few weeks later, he gets together with Boo Seungkwan; coincidence? Jeonghan thinks not. It wasn't long before he wanted his own fortune told to him, too. Seokmin had volunteered to go with him, which the blonde boy now regretted agreeing to.

Now they stood just a few blocks away from the mystic’s store, in their present situation.

"Jeonghan, Hansol's been in love with Seungkwan way before the crystal ball thing. Pretty sure Seungkwan’s always been into him, too,” the younger boy pointed out. That much was true. Everybody knew that. Still.

"Yes, but the lady had no idea who Hansol was! Let alone Seungkwan! How could she have known his initials, right?" 

Seokmin shook his head, still skeptical, ”did Hansol have his phone out during the thing?" 

Jeonghan tried to remember that particular detail, wondering why the other had decided to ask. Hansol did have his phone out for a bit until the old lady had scolded him for disrupting the aura of the room and also for disrespecting the crystal ball by not paying attention to it. Apparently, it got very touchy when not given proper attention. It made sense. Jeonghan remembered what happened because he made it a point to take note of that the next time he visited. Wouldn't want to disrespect anything, right? 

When he nodded, Seokmin continued. 

"She probably saw that he was texting Seungkwan. It's not hard to notice they communicate 24/7."

"She wouldn't do that," Jeonghan defended, although for a second a picture of Hansol's phone flashing a new text from Seungkwan as it rested on the table crossed his mind. It wasn't hard to miss. He shook the thought out of his head, "I still believe her. Don't insult the practitioners, Seokmin. They worked very hard for this.” 

Seokmin rolled his eyes, "alright, alright. Guess there's no stopping you. Tell me how your day goes, then. I’m heading back to the dorm. Say hi to Jisoo for me!” 

"You bet I will so I can prove you wrong!"

/ 

According to the lady, today was the day Yoon Jeonghan was meeting his soulmate, his fated one, the one his red string of fate led to. It was a boy— that much was obvious since about 1995, but still good to know— and his name was Jisoo. When Jeonghan had asked for more specifics, the mystic said that she couldn’t see any more than that. The fact that he was given a clear name was already something to be thankful for. 

Now all he had to do was meet Jisoo.

Jeonghan wasn’t sure what to do about it, at this point.

“Seokmin shouldn’t have left me alone,” he mumbled to himself as he walked along the streets aimlessly. Normally, he would have protested a lot to being left alone— especially in such a crowded area like Insadong— but he also can’t blame the guy. He would leave too if staying around meant being a thirdwheel to your friend and their soulmate. Then again, it’s not like Seokmin believed in what the mystic said; maybe Jeonghan should have argued that he didn’t leave, after all. 

He was in the process of mentally debating with himself whether he should stay in Insadong or walk back home when he heard a familiar voice call his name.

“Jeonghan! Yoon Jeonghan! Hey!”

Jeonghan turned around and squinted at the distance, spotting a patch of dirty blonde hair.

“Hansol?”

Sure enough, the younger boy walked up to him quickly soon after Jeonghan stopped. It took the latter a few seconds to notice that Hansol wasn’t alone— there was someone trailing behind him, who most definitely wasn’t Seungkwan in any way. Jeonghan greeted his friend with a quick high five, before setting his sights back on the stranger with a questioning look. The drop dead handsome and gorgeous stranger with the shy smile whom Jeonghan would very much like to get to know. 

“This here is my friend from America,” Hansol explained. “His name is Joshua. You’re the same age, actually. Josh, this was the friend I mentioned, Jeonghan.”

“Nice to finally meet you,” Joshua spoke, offering his hand, which Jeonghan took with a smile of his own. 

“Hansol has mentioned me?”

Turning to the younger boy, Jeonghan was mentally trying to communicate something along the lines of why haven’t you mentioned Joshua to me though— clearly the boy was his type, Hansol should have known better— which didn’t seem to work because all he got was a bit of an embarrassed chuckle, followed by a nod. 

“The Seungkwan thing,” he confirmed. “To be fair, I told most of my friends.”

Oh.

Now that Hansol brought it up again, Jeonghan was reminded of his own fortune. Jisoo, he repeated silently. Maybe he should tell Hansol about it, too, it seemed only fair seeing how the other boy would clearly believe him unlike Seokmin. Would it be weird talking about it in front of Joshua, though? Especially when Jeonghan definitely found him cute. Definitely. His thoughts were interrupted when Hansol spoke again.

“I’m glad we bumped into you, actually,” Hansol began to say sheepishly. Beside him, Joshua gave a loud, dramatic sigh as he continued, peaking Jeonghan’s interest. “I promised Joshua here I was going to take him around Insadong, but I kinda forgot I also promised Seungkwan a date. Thankfully this guy right here has a heart of gold—”

“—and is willing to be ignored and forgotten for the sake of his friend’s love life,” Joshua interrupted with a cheeky grin, no hint of bitterness in his voice at all. 

Hansol rolled his eyes, lightly hitting Joshua’s shoulder, “yeah, that. But now I won’t have to abandon him all alone! Are you doing anything tonight, Jeonghan?”

“Not at all,” Jeonghan answered a bit too quickly, trying to keep his face from erupting into a wide grin. When the other boy began to ask if Jeonghan could maybe be the one to take Joshua around the area for the night, he said yes in a heartbeat. Hopefully Joshua didn’t notice his enthusiasm. Hansol had just given him a date with the handsome boy. This definitely made up for not being introduced to him sooner.

(Jisoo who?)

  
/

"So you didn't meet him. I told you so,” were the first words out of Seokmin’s mouth the next day when he saw Jeonghan. It was obvious the blonde wasn’t in some fated relationship yet— he would have had his eyes glued on his phone, or out on another date that morning, or dressed better than just a baggy shirt and jeans. His hair was a mess, too. Also, Jeonghan wouldn’t be sulking as he dropped by the other boy’s room, which was probably the biggest telltale of all. He wouldn’t be there at all.

"I did meet someone though. His name is Joshua. Close enough?” Jeonghan said, trying to smile but in the end sighing instead.

Last night didn’t go badly. In fact, it went very well, if anything. Joshua was pretty amazing. He was more than amazing— he was funny, sweet (the amount of times he complimented Jeonghan’s hair and skin, of all things), and a total gentleman. They had spent the night getting to know each other as they walked around the area, over dinner when Jeonghan took him to a good barbecue place, and even when he had to bring Joshua back to Hansol’s place where he was sleeping over.

They had exchanged numbers; Joshua had already texted that morning, actually, but Jeonghan hasn’t replied. Partially because he was like a giddy, nervous schoolgirl who didn’t know what to say, but also because he felt like he was doing something wrong. Like, what if meeting Joshua ended up ruining his fortune, not giving him a chance to meet Jisoo? That would have been terrible, but also kind of worth it. Still terrible. Maybe he could ignore it.

"She said Jisoo, right?" Seokmin reminded.

“Yeah,” Jeonghan said, gnawing at his lower lip to the point that it looked cherry red, “but something about Joshua feels, I don't know, right?" 

"So you're just going to ignore what she said?” The younger boy said with a snort. He was glad his friend met someone he liked, at least this way the whole crystal ball thing won’t happen again. ”I thought you believed her completely with all your heart, mind, and soul. Pretty quick change of heart, Yoon. I can’t wait to meet this Joshua guy, though, you said he was Hansol’s friend?”

"I— I guess you're right. I have to wait for Jisoo."

"That wasn't what I meant—“ Seokmin began, which went unheard by Jeonghan who continued to go on and on.

"But Joshua's really my type, I'm not kidding,” the blonde smiled at the thought of last night. “Soft, gentle voice. The cutest smile and laugh. What a sweetheart, Seokmin, really. He seemed interested in me, too. We went around Insadong and at one point, almost held hands, but he was so shy—“

Seokmin held a hand up to try and get a word in, “I don’t need to hear about your date details. What I'm trying to say is maybe the crazy ball lady was wr—" 

"How do I break it to him that I can't see him anymore? This is so hard,” Jeonghan continued, sighing dramatically. At this point, Seokmin was sure he was being ignored on purpose. He was also sure that despite the dramatics, Jeonghan was actually being serious with what he was saying. 

"Jeonghan, really, listen fir—"

Jeonghan got from up from his spot on the living room couch, heading towards the door as he continued to talk to mostly himself now, ”I should ask him to meet up and do it properly. It's only fair."

"You act like you've been married for years and asking for divorce,” Seokmin was still staying, just as the door opened and closed. He sighed and went back to watching TV.

"Why am I friends with him again?" 

/

It took Jeonghan a few more hours before he headed over to Hansol’s place. He had to change his clothes— no way Joshua was going to see him looking like a mess— and make sure he looked presentable enough. Even if he was about to tell a cute guy that they can’t meet up or go on dates anymore because he was supposed to be in a relationship with a guy that the crystal ball told him. His looks were more important. Maybe if he looked nice, Joshua wouldn’t be so heartbroken.

Or would he be sadder that he lost his chance with someone as handsome as Jeonghan?

It was too late for Jeonghan to decide on things again, since he already rang the doorbell and was waiting for the door to open. He was expecting Hansol to open it, but also wondered if it was too early for the younger boy to be awake. Sure enough, he was proven right when it was Joshua’s soft brown hair and surprised expression that greeted him at the door.

“Oh, Jeonghan, what’s u—“

"I'm sorry!” Jeonghan exclaimed, bowing a little so that he wouldn’t have to see Joshua’s face as he confessed. “This lady at Insadong said I was meeting my soulmate yesterday and that his name was Jisoo; instead I meet you and I really like you, don't get me wrong, but I feel like I'm being a bad soulmate to whoever Jisoo is and—“

He finally looked up as he was finishing; Jeonghan didn’t know what he was more surprised at, that Joshua didn’t look sad or that the latter was actually smiling a little. His own heart was crushed a little that Joshua wasn’t sad about what was happening. Maybe he had just imagined the connection they had last night. He took a deep breath, steeling himself for whatever would happen next, before continuing. 

"So what I'm trying to say is I'm sorry. I really like you, but we’ll have to stay friends." 

"Because my name is Joshua?" 

The question still came with that hint of a smile, as if Joshua was more amused at the whole situation than anything else.

“Yes,” Jeonghan mumbled, a bit conscious that he probably looked like an idiot just now.

There was a very tangible silence in the air, a huge pause, a gap in the conversation that only made Jeonghan feel worse by the second, before Joshua spoke again; slowly and deliberately, as if he wanted to make sure he was saying the right thing and that his message came across clearly, ”Jeonghan, you do realize I'm from America, right?"

“Hansol told me that yesterday,” the blonde replied with a confused look. What did that have to do with anything? 

"Which means Joshua is my English name."

Wait.

"Let me introduce myself again,” Joshua started to say, failing to keep the laugh from escaping his mouth as he spoke, “without Hansol around this time.”

Jeonghan’s jaw dropped; he was sure his mouth was wide open as his brain finally processed what was actually happening. That, and that his cheeks were tinted red— he wasn’t sure whether it was because of the embarrassent at how he had managed to make himself look like a fool or the way Joshua took his hand into his own, sweeter than a normal handshake should be like.

"Hi, my name is Hong Jisoo, and you must be my soulmate, then?"

/

"In your face, Seokmin."

"Yes, yes, I get it. Speaking of faces, can't you disconnect yours from Jisoo for just a few minutes or hours or the whole day, I'm trying to watch something here." 

**Author's Note:**

> If you like my work and would like to support me, please consider buying me coffee! https://ko-fi.com/stilljunhui


End file.
